The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Chronicles — Section 206

indeed, then, was there tc prepare for such a falling through of the very cherished hopes and the earnest deeds of that day. 3. The failure was of a sort to have many and wide ~tfects and also cross-effects. How much thinking of friend and foe would be stirred! How many tongues of friend and foe would allow themselves licence I How would the matter be viewed from one point and another I Its relation to the king and what he had so fervently desired-to the people and their recent union under one king, would be eagerly scanned. The ill omen would be quickly discerned by those who wished ill to David or to Israel. And many a sincere heart would share the pain and anxious doubt and the fear of David himself. There can be no doubt that the greater the previous interest and enthusiasm in the undertaking, and pious zeal towards it, so mnch severer now the stroke and the shock to all concerned. II. THE POSSIBLE USES AND EXPLANATION OF THE FAILURE. In default of being able to assign any one positive reason for the disappointment of this day, and for the fact that it fell heavy on those apparently free from blame and inspired with all good feeling and purpose it is ever open to us to notice results. We may reverently track consequences of Divine judgments and providence, and thence gather something of their origin, even where it woulcl. be most irreverent to dogmatize on these causes, to chal- lenge the eqnity or to criticise the disposition of them. The deepest sorrows, the bitterest griefs, the keenest strokes which fall upon the humble and the wise, are ever found to lead to conduct similar tc this in our actual life. When the severest has passed, and we are recovered but a little from the shock, we begin to cast about to inquire with solemn self-searchings what hidden fault there was in ourselves, to what great danger we were drawing near, heedless and unwitting, and at least what residuum of good we may derive out of so much evil and suffering. This is right conduct per- sonally, and to follow the lines of such a practical analogy may help us see our way through many a deep thicket of the world's dark history. We never do right when we would" do wrong that good might come." But God ever does right and kindness when he directs trouble upon us, upon our very head, into our very heart, that good may come of it. It i.~ his to chasten, and he chastens for our profit. And thus, when we have seen Uzza, the rash offender, suffer what must have been the just reward of his deeds, and he is passed away, we can but return to ask what lesson the deep and widespread disappointment had for all the rest, high and low. In what significant moral sense oJ this kind did this disaster find its root? And the answer is of this kind. 1. It may very possibly have been that outward zeal exceeded discretion and sincere piety. 2. It may have been that David and those high ecclesiastical officers with whom lay the ultimate responsibility had not given sufficiently careful instruction to those who only served, and had neglected to copy the well known minuteness and accuracy of their old and revered Law. If so, they had failed of their duty in very high and sig• nificant respects. 3. It is certain that, for sanctified uses, this event must have deepened the solemn fear and respect toward the ark and him of whom it told throughout all the people far and wide who had lost some of that essential reverence for it during its long absence. 4. 'fhe disaster and disappointmrnt were not a final loss. The delay of "three months" taught fear, raised hope, chastised self-trust, and helped educate to religion a whole people and their priests and king. Vera. 1, 2, 4.-The rule that malces a willing people. These verses discover to us the first, or Rome of the first, things which David did on finding himself now ruler over an entire and united people. And they serve to illustrate in particular, not merely the good and wise thing which he did, of which we shall speak hereafter, but the good and wise manner in which he set about doing it. Many a promising career has been spoilt by neglecting to observe the method which David now pursued, and diligently pur- sued, when the career that Providence may have opened has been of the same nature, namely, that of ruler or leader of men. Notice- !. THE HIGH ESTIMATE SET UPON NATIONAL AND IlELIGIOUB HARMONY. The rul<:1 now evidently bids for no mere outer form of this, but for the presence of tho deep, genuine spirit of it in his people. The captains and all the leaders and all the congre- gatiou-i f all these will think, and love, and determine, and do the same things, he will be satisfied, and his heart will rejoice. Though possibly he might have been in policy compelled to take less than this and effect or at least accept a compromise, it is  ou. xm. 1-14.J THE FIRST BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. 199